


The Myriad

by bearedgrave



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:53:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26063776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bearedgrave/pseuds/bearedgrave
Summary: After losing to the Palmetto State Foxes last year, Edgar Allan Ravens struggle to fix their team. Livia "Lila" Kingrest's brother, Sean, was one of the raven who fought the foxes, and with defeat comes a great price. His coach, desperate for a new recruit, wanted to sign Lila up to replace her brother. Lila is more like a fox than a raven. With her demons threatening to catch up if she ever signed the contract, Lila doubts that she'd ever be selfish enough as Sean to leave.
Kudos: 1





	The Myriad

People don’t always see the struggle of getting back up. They see the winner, not the loser. So when defeat finally sunk its teeth deep into the Ravens’s neck, the team was scattered with no one to help them put the pieces back together. Their king was gone, their coach a tangled mess, and they certainly have no idea where to begin.  
It took three days until the worst news finally reached Livia Kingrest. Her brother had been a raven, the one that fought against the Palmetto Foxes last year. Lila knew deep down that Sean’s demons would catch up with him soon, just like it caught up with the rest of her family. When the storm came, however, she still wasn’t quite prepared.  
Grief comes in a few tormenting stages. For her, it started with shock. She stood unmoving as the person on the other side of the line offered her their condolences. Some words made it to her consciousness before the only thing she could hear was the sound of her heartbeat thumping in her ears.   
All her life she thought mourning was crying hysterically, screaming and fighting, begging for the dead to come back. This was different. She did not recognize the newly shaped hole in her heart. It left her empty, no matter how much sadness she poured into it. Guilt too, because she wasn’t there for him. She was never there for anyone. She’d run and run and only thought of herself. How naive of her, Lila should’ve known better that Sean had meant it when he told her Exy is more than just a game to him.  
Beneath Edgar Allan’s Exy court is the raven’s dormitory. The security let her inside the dark space after checking her ID and some few documents. They called one of Sean’s teammates to lead her the way to his room, something that they’d never done before. The ravens kept so many secrets. What’s inside cannot go out. They kept things that are meant to be a secret in the slightest shadow their fame can offer. Letting her inside their “nest” would’ve been a violation against their rules last year.  
Once they had reached the door, the said teammate left her to her own devices. Books were still scattered on Sean’s desk. His roommate/pair had been kind enough to empty the room so Lila can have a moment to herself if she needed to.   
The clothes Sean owned were not familiar. They don’t smell like him, they don’t smell like home. No sense of familiarity hit her when she gathered them into a small pile to inhale the smell. Not even a hint of cigarette that their mother smoke, not the smell of the certain soap brand he used. This was not Sean who snuck at night to practice at the local soccer field, not the same Sean who buried his racquet deep inside his wardrobe so their mother would never find out. If she ever did, then they all know whose bones are going to be broken by it.  
This was the Sean who survived. Who shed the skin that he wore his entire life to reveal the fighter inside of him. That certain spirit ought to inspire Lila by now. No matter how long she waited, though, it never came. Only waves of uncertain emotions that kept her dazed, thoughts running miles per second.  
“You just have to do it.” She whispered to herself.  
Lila thought she’d spent about half the day there, lingering in the same spot before the door finally opened. A man crossed the room to sit beside her, offered her a hand to express his condolences, and introduced himself as Coach Weisz. He told her the things she’d heard a million times before: how Sean was a kind young man, a talented one, and how he has so much potential to go Court. None of these mattered now that he died. Telling facts—mixed with lies—won’t make Lila suddenly inherit her brother’s qualities.  
Coach Weisz continued to tell her about how Sean loved being on the court, loved being a raven. He was a team-player, he said, which she knew isn’t true. Sean picked fights with almost everyone. He was not trusting, nor was he friendly. He’s an embodiment of all things negative. She wondered how he got accepted in line-up in the first place. He seemed to be everything they wouldn’t want, especially knowing how Riko and Tetsuji Moriyama worked.  
Now that Tetsuji had stepped down for obvious reasons, Weisz took over the team. Luckily, he does not seem to mind being punch by failure and shame. He was more keen on getting the team on the right path again. Coach Weisz picked them up one by one, offered them help that they won’t get outside these four walls, and began the training again as if they still have what it takes to play this season.  
“A raven is a raven.” He said. “We fly, and we fly together.”  
This one is true. To be a raven, one must pass through several tests. One of the drills they have to master is shooting quickly and accurately. Seeing it on screen felt impossible, Lila wondered if something like that can truly be done without special effects meant for TV. No matter how broken they are, they’re all still ravens. Talents don’t get erased by tears.  
“We are looking for a starting backliner.” Coach Weisz said. “I can sign you up to replace him. Sean told us his little sister plays too.”  
Lila was compelled by the idea of waving his words off because she thought he was still talking about Sean. She blinked several times before the thought finally sank in and hit her. There was an unpleasant ringing in her ears as her blood rushes through her system in high speed.  
It took a second for her to find her voice again. “I can’t play.”  
She thought she could hear glass shattering the night Sean left home to go to Edgar Allan. Their mother had almost ripped his contract back then, which Sean reacted to all too violently. He’d threatened her with the sharp end of the broken glass. There was blood before Lila could move.  
Sean cut their mother’s face with no second thought, and left Lila to deal with the mess. He never visited, only texted her once to say he’s sorry. She wanted his apology to be enough reason for her to move on. But then her mother decided she wasn’t done with anger and that her loneliness was too much to cope with, so she broke Lila’s left foot in an attempt to forbid her from leaving. It’s a miracle that she could ever walk again.  
Accepting to replace her brother would break all the same hell again. She would never risk it for her ten-year-old brother. Perhaps if Lila was feeling selfish like Sean did, she’d pick the Foxes. They’re all troublesome, aren’t they? From the goalkeeper to the strikers. How they hadn’t found her yet amused her. It seems like years just watching from the sidelines worked well in her favor. Nobody even knew Sean had a sister who play as well. Or that they don’t care.  
Either ways, she only stared at Coach Weisz. He doesn’t seem convinced at all by her saying that she cannot play. Realizing that he won’t get any answer for her any time soon, he decided to hand over a rolled up document. He let Lila weigh it in her hand as if it were a racquet—something she knew she’d never wield again. Coach Weisz studied her demeanor before settling with a simple, “If you ever change your mind, let me know.”  
He went out of the room without turning back.


End file.
